


Cable

by Enchantable



Series: Stitches [3]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Clothing, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-17
Updated: 2013-08-17
Packaged: 2017-12-23 19:48:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/930378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enchantable/pseuds/Enchantable
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mako's no stranger to wearing boy's clothing, so it takes her a while to figure out why the sweater she's wearing is making Raleigh grin like an idiot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cable

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Raleigh knits his own sweaters. Mako steals them when she's cold, but tries to be sneaky about it.

The sweater falls from the needles. 

Mako stares at the garment. She’s watched it come to life, from the first few knots to the sleeves and the body of the sweater. It’s huge and the color of caramel. Mako’s fingers ache at the sight of it. She has all the memories of how to knit, but her fingers can’t seem to do it like he can. She reaches out and runs a finger along the thick yarn, feeling the perfect knots. 

Behind her she feels Raleigh relax against the wall. 

It’s their ritual. Sometimes they start in other places but they always wind up together. He fits his body around hers, holding her close and Mako feels all the comfort of being in a Jaeger. She feels powerful, but at the same time so impossibly relaxed. It has very little to do with the knitting and more to do with Raleigh. Sometimes when feels him tense, she’ll mess up a stitch. He focuses on her, his own hands wrapping around hers and guiding them through the knots. 

Her knitting still isn’t as good as his and though she knows he’s had years of practice it still infuriates her. She runs her thumb across the collar and as his fingers match her movements against her side. She picks up her own needles and leans back against him fully, letting his hand slip to her stomach as she guides the yarn around the metal. 

He hums softly as she adjusts herself against his bulk. Moments like these are far between. They are both so busy its difficult to steal time away. But in these moments Mako remembers that there is a future spreading around them, there’s a world out there without monsters. It’s big and scary but cocooned in Raleigh’s arms it seems less. His knee is warm against her shoulders as his fingers trace a lazy pattern on the fabric and for a moment Mako wonders what they would feel like against her bare skin. 

"You cold?" Raleigh asks, the humming stopping. 

"Just a chill," Mako says. 

He shifts and she wants to tell him not to move. She feels his abs contract as he sits up. She moves with him but his fingers press to her skin, holding her against him as he picks up the sweater and holds it open. She ducks her head through the opening and pushes her arms through before he settles back and pulls her with him. 

The sweater is massive and swamps her form. It smells like the hanger, like grease and sparks and metal. She can even see a few marks of grease where he forgot to wash his hands before picking up the needles. She doesn’t bother pushing back the sleeves. The hand that was of her stomach slips underneath the sweater and back to its original place. 

"This is nice," she tells him in Japanese and he nods, the tune coming back from his lips. 

She knows the tune from his head, the soft notes coming first from an organ and then from his mother’s lips. Her eyes move over to the pictures tacked to his wall. She doesn’t need them to see his mother or his brother or his sister, no more than he needs to look at those of Stacker to understand her relationship with him. She closes her eyes and leans against him, listening to the vibration of his chest against her back.

Hours later she wakes up with their bodies tangled around each other. His hand is fully underneath the sweater, his other wrapped high on her chest. His body is perfectly fitted around hers and she can feel his chest rising and falling steadily. It’s so nice and warm that Mako cannot even bring herself to check the clock. Sleepily she turns gently in his arms, pressing her face to his chest. His hands move with her, not letting her go as she settles back against him and falls asleep. 

When she wakes up his hand is gently running up and down her spine. She opens her eyes and looks up at him. He looks down at her and gives a soft, sleepy smile that makes him look easily ten years younger. Like the hot shot pilot who told her not to give up on her dreams despite the fact that no-one wanted to be in her head. 

"Morning?" She says and he laughs soft and low in his chest. 

"Night," he corrects. 

She sighs because they have a million things to do in a few hours. She needs to go back to her room. He looks down at her and he seems to understand even though he clearly doesn’t want to let her up. He kisses her forehead and she sighs softly before pushing herself up. She has to go back to her room before she crawls back into bed and doesn’t move. She tugs on her socks and heads for the door. 

"Mako," he calls to her and she turns as he gets up and holds out her yarn and needles, "keep working on that stitch," she nods and takes the yarn, heading back to her room.

She sleeps late and barely manages to make it to the hanger in time. No-one looks twice at her but Mako smoothes her hair anyway and wishes she had enough time to brush her teeth. She shoves up the sleeves of her too big sweater as she addresses Choi and the scientists. Raleigh stands in the shadows, his arms folded. there’s a smile on his face and she focuses instead on her presentation and not Raleigh’s infectious smile.

After the presentation they go their separate ways. The day is long and when she goes to lunch, Raleigh isn’t there. She has to work through dinner. There are very few windows in the Shatterdome, but its late when she gets back. Raleigh’s door is open but he’s bent over paperwork with Max on his feet and Mako doesn’t want to disturb him. She moves towards her door, not trying to hide but not exactly being loud either. 

"Long day?" Raleigh calls as if she’s standing next to him and Mako smiles, turning and heading for his room.

"Very," she says bending down and scratching Max behind his ears, "you?"

"Same," he says leaning back in his chair and smiling at her. 

"What?" She asks, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Nothing," he says, "I liked last night," he says finally and she feels her face get as red as his. 

"Me too," she answers.

"So you wouldn’t be opposed to doing it again?" He asks, a hopeful note in his voice. 

"We need an alarm clock," she says and he grins.

"I can get that."

she nods and smiles before straightening up and wishing him a good night because she can’t stay there quite yet. She heads back to her room and closes the door, leaning against it for a moment with a smile. She goes to get undressed and her hands grasp the thick, caramel sweater she hasn’t even realized she’s been wearing. Her eyes widen as Raleigh’s smiles make sense. no-one else has any reason to suspect that she’s stolen the sweater, even if she only stole it accidentally. 

She quickly tugs the garment off, immediately missing its warmth as she folds it up as best she can. She pulls open the door and walks across the hallway, thrusting out the sweater. Raleigh sets down the pen and looks at her. 

"I’m sorry," she says, "here."

"Keep it," he says with a grin that makes her stomach flop, "it looks good on you, Besides, the next one was going to be for you anyway."

"But you—" she begins. 

"Alaskan, remember?" He says, "I don’t get cold, and my sweater situation isn’t dire," she still looks at him hesitantly and he leans back, "I’ll trade you," he says, "spend a couple nights with me. I knit faster with you here." 

She knows its not really a trade since they both want that. But her fingers are tight in the yarn. She wants to tell him she would spend every night with him, that she’d figure out a way to knit him sweaters too. But the words get caught in her throat and she nods, pulling the sweater back to her chest. 

"I’ll get the alarm clock," she says instead. 

"Hey Mako?" He calls to her when she gets to the door, "for the record I was going to make you one that fit."

Mako smiles at the pride in his voice and shrugs on her sweater, turning to look at him as she pushes up the sleeves so he can see. His smile softens at her teasing and she beams at him because she knows she’s the only one who can do that.

"I like this one better."


End file.
